Monday, September 18, 2023

The Disappearance and Murder of Breasia Terrell


Breasia Terrell went missing on July 10th, 2020. The 10-year-old girl vanished while spending the night at the home of the girlfriend of 47-year-old Henry Earl Dinkins, in Davenport, Illinois. Breasia's mother Aishia Lankford last heard from her around 9 PM on July 9th, when Breasia sent a text to say goodnight. Reports state that Breasia was seen for the last time a few hours later. Aishia reported her missing on the evening of July 10th after she never returned home.

Dinkins was immediately considered a person of interest in Breasia's disappearance. He is the father of Breasia's half-brother, and he is also a registered sex offender. Breasia reportedly tagged along with her half-brother during a visit with Dinkins on the day before her disappearance. According to Aishia, Breasia had never spent the night at this apartment before--but was enjoying her time with her brother and wanted to stay the night. 

Although Aishia was aware that Dinkins is a registered sex offender, she was initially not worried about Breasia spending the night at his girlfriend's home because she was with her brother, and she had known Dinkins her whole life. However, when Breasia never returned from Dinkins' house, suspicions against him began to build.

Police searched Dinkins' girlfriend's apartment shortly after Breasia was reported missing. During the search, he was arrested for violating sex offender requirements. He maintained that he had nothing to do with Breasia's disappearance and had no knowledge of her whereabouts.

On July 15th, 2020, an Amber alert was issued for Breasia. Authorities also announced that they were searching for anyone with information about Dinkins' whereabouts between the hours of 10pm on July 9th and 12pm on July 10th. Still, months passed without any public updates on the case.

Henry Earl Dinkins


In March 2021, Breasia's body was found. 

The remains were found on March 22nd by a group of fishermen at a pond in DeWitt--located approximately 20 miles away from Davenport. On March 31st, 2021, authorities confirmed that the remains were positively identified as that of Breasia Terrell. Her death was labeled as a homicide.

About a month later, Henry Dinkins was arrested and charged with the first-degree kidnapping and murder of Breasia Terrell. It was then revealed that Breasia was shot to death. It was believed that her death was premeditated by Dinkins. 

In September 2023, a judge declared that Dinkins was guilty of both Breasia's kidnapping and murder. It is believed that he shot her to death after sexually assaulting her. In fact, during court proceedings, Breasia's half-brother testified that he witnessed Breasia getting shot. He also stated that Dinkins and his girlfriend left the apartment with Breasia during the night and returned without Breasia. 

Dinkins was later sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.

2 comments:

  1. It really breaks my heart that mothers are not educated about pedophiles and they still allow young children to run around without supervision. Very, Very sad. Pedophiles TARGET single mothers as well to get access to her children while pretending to love the mother. Wake up, World. Our children have had enough!!!
    https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-a-Pedophile

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's terrible her mother has to live with the fact that she allowed her child to be put in that situation with someone so terrible.

    ReplyDelete